The Small Things
by OutrageousIngeniousBrilliance
Summary: You know those small things that nobody notices, what happens when you finally start to notice?  What if those small things are really a big thing that can kill someone you care about?  Suggested NejiTen, Naruhina, and Kibahina


_Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to it's respective owner._

The Small Things

I would never think of disorders being a problem in Kohonagankure. The only one that I had ever heard of was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The only reason I knew that was because I have an uncle who suffers from night terrors from the war. I remember the cold sweat and white face of my uncle screaming into the night. I hated it.

I knew something was wrong when she served me tea during training one day. The dark color dress she always wore was almost falling off her body. I made a note to address my uncle on the situation of buying her new clothes.

It was when I saw her arms that my mind came to a complete stop. Her arms were so tiny that it looked like I could break them in half. Actually, I could snap anyone's hand in half, but I could snap hers if I just touched it.

She noticed me looking at her strangely and excused herself quickly. Later that night, we sat together for dinner. It was a wedding and it was a very formal occasion.

I sat across from her and she looked pretty. I never noticed how well she looked in anything, but she looked good in her green dress. The dress had a major problem with it, even though it was very beautiful. It was at least a few sizes bigger than her and it made her look like it was eating her alive.

The party was a joyous occasion with food and drinks. It was a little too busy for my liking, though. She tried to look confident and poised. She was differently getting better around people. When she talked, O knew she cursed herself every time she stuttered. When I saw her talking to Sakura, her voice never faltered.

The wedding was just like any other wedding, but it was more upscale than usual. They Hyuga's had always been haughty people and couldn't imagine a ceremony being a small and cheap thing. It had to be over the top and they had to invite _at least _their five hundred closest friends, excluding the family already coming.

No one missed a Hyuga wedding on their own accord. The weddings were only missed it you were sick or on a mission. I wish I was one of the exceptions.

Sitting across my younger cousin was nerve-wracking. There were eight courses and they were all good. Konohagakure could get good right.

It was just that she only moved her food around, eating almost nothing. She ate the first two courses, rice and a salad, but never brought the fork to her mouth after that.

My cousin seemed to shrink under herself as she saw more courses come her way. I found myself noticing her more and more.

Why was I so concerned? Maybe, I'm just bored. Not maybe, I am bored. Social events have never been my thing. It has never been hers either.

The woman next to her, a small lady with much poise, kept asking her if she was going to eat more. My cousin stuttered an answer that I strained to hear. She said she wasn't hungry.

_"My dear, an heiress should at least try the food, but with a figure like yours, I wouldn't eat either."_

The woman was loud. My cousin was completely embarrassed and I recognized the woman as a gossip columnist writer.

I should have shouted at her, I felt like it and it would be TenTen and Lee would have done.

Sometimes, my teammates think too much with their emotions. An emotional response was what was needed at this particular time. I couldn't provide that.

I saw the women and men around the woman and my cousin snicker at my cousin's stupidity. My cousin isn't stupid. I have come to at least realize that.

Nothing happened for the rest of the dinner. It was times like these that I wished for someone to talk to. The people I actually do talk to are lower class, meaning they were not invited to this wedding.

I wish TenTen was here, she's my best friend, and I wouldn't be so bored if she were here. I wander towards the refreshment bar. You don't have to talk to anyone there. I first people are saying goodbye and I can see my family is tired.

My cousin comes next to. She looks tired. She says she wishes to leave and go to sleep like Hanabi could three hours ago. I have gotten better at small talk because of her.

Many are still here and they wish for us all to dance. I don't want to dance, but my family forces me. I dance with a blond girl my age who doesn't want to be there and wears a yellow bow in her hair. I can't help but compare her to TenTen. TenTen has a nicer face than this blonde.

I catch a glimpse of my cousin dancing with a boy that is almost a replica of Sasuke, but with a smile on his face. She won't like him, he's too forward and overbearing. His hand slips down way beyond her waist. She 'eeps' softly and it irritates me.

I whisper to the blonde that we have to get to my cousin. She looks and sees her predicament, she nods at me. The blonde isn't stupid, at least.

We casually make our way over there. We get near them and I take the boy's hand and yank it upwards. He is completely surprised and my cousin whispers 'thank you'.

The blonde girl asks if I should have danced with that girl. I almost laugh as I inform her that the girl is my cousin. The blonde girl laughs and comments that she wished her boyfriend was as protective of her and I was with my cousin.

I ask her where her boyfriend was. She answers that he is too lower class and her parents are ashamed of her. I tell her I know how she feels.

The party ends and I am grateful. I walk towards my room when I see her in her room, looking in a mirror.

She was in her regular clothes and was trying to hold her stomach in. She looked depressed. She stood like that for a few minutes until she turned to her door. I hid close by and watched her leave the compound is silence.

I don't know what possessed me to follow her, but I did. She wandered to the forest and I never knew what I would see. She put two fingers into her mouth, throwing up everything she had in her stomach. It made me want to stop her, then throw up myself.

What would make her do that?

My cousin goes back home and goes to bed, but not before I hear her crying in her sleep. I don't know why I feel so concerned, but this bothers me a lot.

I don't know what to do, so I decide to ask TenTen tomorrow, she would know why my cousin is doing something so drastic.

I never even imagined the response I got from TenTen. She calls in a disorder, like my cousin is sick. TenTen freaked as she said that Anorexia causes a rapid weight loss and could cause death. My eyes widen in shock and I never imagined my cousin as suicidal.

*Break*

When Neji told me and Kiba about Hinata's problem, I remember Kiba getting extremely angry and me reflecting on Hinata. I knew something has been wrong with her. Her clothes never seem to fit and she excused herself after almost every meal. She never ate and it is because her parka was always too big for us to notice anything.

Calming Kiba down was really hard. I have almost never seem him so angry, but I know it is because he cares about her. I care a lot about her as well, but getting angry never solves anything. I told Kiba and Neji that we need to solve this properly. An intervention will do.

Neji offered TenTen being their due to TenTen actually knowing what we are dealing with and TenTen knowing Hinata pretty well. I thought we should tell Kurenai, but Kiba was almost like an insane person as he told me no. Hinata could get in trouble and no one wanted that.

We decided it to confront her after today's training. We thought it could be best for her and for us. She can't run home, because Neji lives there. She can't go anywhere and she needs help, a lot of help.

I don't know if we can hive her that help.

TenTen says she needs a support system. Are we the ones who can give her that?

Are a cousin, a martial artist, a canine and a bug really going to help her?

Kiba and I waited for her at the training grounds. She was late, probably doing her tea serving thing. Neji, thankfully, was trying to train earlier, but her dad insisted that they be served by Hinata. I thanked him quietly for keeping a weak Hinata from training.

I saw it. Her pale gaunt face was wretched and the parka wasn't hiding anything. It actually made it stand out. I never knew dieting was this serious. Why would she put her life in danger, just to fit in? What is going through her head?

I guess we are not role models. Kiba and I stank out like sore thumbs that come out of an insane person's imagination. She is the normal one, and now she is anything but.

Are we all freaks? Did Kiba and I influence her to kill herself? Are we the reason? Are we the ones who pushed her to do this?

What was the reason? Is it because of the other girls? The other girls _are_ skinnier, but why is that affecting her? She fights better than every girl I know. She's amazing. Is she trying to impress someone? Of course she is, but I don't think he would care about that.

Every time she hits my arm I sense her thinning and I feel the fragility of her arm after a hit. I can't do this. I feel like I'm going to kill her. I'm going to break her on accident and I may not even know that I am doing it! Hinata is my teammate, I don't want any harm to come to her, but can I really protect her from herself?

We decide to take a break. She asks why we are going so easy on her. Is she catching on? We say we aren't, but that is a lie. I look at Kiba and I can see the concern in his eyes. We're worried about her and it is affecting our training. She can tell we are lying and asks us if we're okay. We're okay, she's not.

Now, she is worried. I don't want her to be worried, that's almost as bad as if she was hurt. I tell her we're fine.

Kiba throws in that we stayed up late last night. I nudge him, trying to remind him that she was at one of the famous Hyuga weddings last night. They stay up all night with no consideration to the family. The family has to stay up for hours, and then go on missions the next morning. I could tell Hinata hates weddings.

I felt sorry for her. Her family is hard on her and people judge her… that's it!

The people judge her on being an heiress. All heiresses are pretty and thin, fragile. She must seem not up to par with them. I hate to think that is how she feels. I don't want her to feel like a caged bird that can't sing.

Her father is the real problem. He practically abandoned her and now she probably feels like she has to impress everyone, but I can't feel like we didn't contribute to this.

I don't want to believe we put pressure on her, but being a ninja has a lot of pressures attached to it. There's always a possibility that we will die.

If that happens to any of us, we're suppose to cope with it in little time. Kiba or Hinata's death would be extremely hard on me. We're family and family care about each other.

We're definitely not a typical family, and I'll go so far as to say we're an abnormal family, but this is _our _family. I won't let that get ruined if we don't have to.

We start training again. Kiba and I decided to go a little harder on her, and she can take it. I see her smile; I don't want her to feel weak. Us, going easy on her probably supported the idea that she is weak. Hinata is strong, even if her father thinks differently.

We are nearing the end of training. I can see Kiba getting nervous, jumping up and down. I'm nervous as well, and I am sure Hinata notices our discomfort. She asks us what is wrong.

Kiba smiles as if it will help. Maybe it won't and probably it will. I think she is reassured. I don't know how this will go and it scares me to think that Hinata will not accept our help.

I hope she does, she needs it. All we want to do is help her. Family helps each other.

*Break*

All I want to do right now is scream at Hinata. Why is she doing these awful things to herself?

Doesn't she know the consequences?

Does she want to live?

Does she want to leave all of us who care about her?

Does she want to leave Kurenai, Sakura, Naruto, TenTen, Ino, Shino…and me?

Does she know what she is doing to us?

It hurts to think that Hinata thinks this is the only way. Isn't there another way to diet? All you have to do is portion food sizes and exercise, but she already does that. Aren't there any no side affect pills? It can't be fun to…th-….yeah it just can't be. Why does she put herself through the torture? It's not fair to her or us! I want her to live.

In his own weird way, Shino is worried about her. I'm worried as well. I want her to be happy. This thing, whatever she's doing, means that she is not happy. How can she be, when she…?

Shino tells me that Hinata wants to impress people. Who wants a skinny chick with all her bones showing? That isn't attractive. Actually, it's repulsive. Why does she think that is good? Is it because of the other girls? Some of them are _too_ skinny.

Are they all…? I hope not. I really hope not.

Training has ended and Shino and I are walking Hinata to where we said we would meet Neji and TenTen. Hinata asks why we are going the long way. I smile. She said once that she loved my smile. I guess that's why I always smile at her, it makes her happy. All I want is for her to be happy. That's why we are doing this, for her to be happy.

Hinata is the first to notice Neji and TenTen there. She's nervous, now. I hope this work, this better work. This needs to work for her, so she can get better. We all want her to get better.

TenTen starts out that we should all sit down. Hinata looks curious and really puzzled. TenTen them explains we need to solve _a_ problem, together. She then goes on to tell how Neji saw and we know about the Anorexia Nervosa or something like that. Hinata almost noticeably shrinks and stares at the ground. This is killing her. I can't let that happen.

TenTen says that we are here for her. Neji and Shino say something along those lines in their own special way. Way to go TenTen, use the two people who can't show concern even if they wanted to. I guess I'm the most vocal of the group and I hope that reassures her the most.

I don't know how fast Hinata ran, but it was _fast_. I don't know how my instincts reacted so fast, but I was in a dead run after her. I guess it took the others a few minutes to register what happened. I caught her about three blocks into town.

She can't bring herself to look at me. I tell her that she has to stop. What is she going to do? What if this is more serious than me thought?

Maybe she wants to die…or maybe I am overreacting.

She starts to tear up, trying to be strong. Hinata is strong and this can't bring her down. I tell her that. I guess I make her spill over. I tell her that we can do this together. She says that she can't do this anymore. She says it's hard to keep this up. I tell her that she doesn't have to keep it up any longer. I'm going to help her.

I try to pull her towards the others. She just wants to stay. I stay with her. She shouldn't be alone. I tell her she doesn't have to be alone. I think she knows we are here.

I ask her why she does the things she does. She says, slowly, that she wants to like the other girls. I can't make out what she saws next; the tears are blocking my hearing. I can make out the words 'father', 'family', 'heiress', and 'impress'.

I guess Shino was right about everything. I tell her that anyone who doesn't like her for her can go screw themselves. I think she smiles a little at that. Hinata tries to stop crying.

The others finally decide to show up. Hinata asks TenTen how to stop what she is doing. I never imagined TenTen knowing, but she seemed to know all about this. Was everyone suppose to know about this or just chicks?

Hinata says she wants to get better and thanks us. I can see that she is thankful to have people that care about her. I know we all do. I just think we don't show it too often. I guess if we did, that wouldn't make these times so special.

I decide to walk her home, as the rest had to go see the Hokage. She doesn't seem alright. I ask her if she is okay. She says she isn't. She thinks that she'll never be good or anything like that. I tell her she is just fine the way she is.

I don't know where these emotions came from, but she starting yelling about never fitting in and a lot of other things. It's good for her to get these things off her chest, I just wish she wouldn't do it in front of her house. These Hyuga's have a funny way of listening in on everyone else's business.

I tell her that it will be hard, but she'll get through it. She hopes so to.

She walks inside her house and I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

_Comments, Compliments, Concerns?_

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_I don't know much about how I handle the situation, so feedback would help. So I can correct anything that may be offensive._

_Thank you for reading._


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